Rule #6 - Negative space is magical – create it, don’t just fill it up!

"It’s said often that negative space-sometimes called white space (even thought there might not be any white around)-is more important that the stuff that’s in it. For the most part, this is true. Space calls attention to content, separates it from unrelated content around it, and gives the eyes a resting place. Negative space is just as much a shape that you have to deal with in a composition as positive shapes, whether pictures or type. When you don’t deal with it at all, negative space feels dead and disconnected from the visual material it surrounds. If the space gets filled up, the result is an oppressive presentation that no one will want to deal with. A lack of negative space overwhelms and confuses the audience, which is likely to get turned off." Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual, Stratham